Hydra (Earth-616)
The Beast, The Spear, Hydra Bruderschaft, Hope Yards Development and Relocation Association (H.Y.D.R.A.) | Distinguish1 = HYDRA | Status = Active | Identity = Public | Universe = Earth-616 | BaseOfOperations = Capitol Building, Washington, D.C., Hydra Nation; formerly Hydra Flying Island; Hydra Island, Pacific Ocean; Gehenna, New Zealand; Tarantula Base, Australia; Ravenous II, Seattle, Washington, United States of America; Ravenous Base, British Columbia, Canada; Hive Base, Indian Ocean; Nemesis Shipyards, Indonesia; Hell's Heaven Base, China; Crown Base, Kyoto, Japan; Ichor Base, Pacific Ocean; active in United States of America, Japan and Europe. | OrganizationLeaders = }} | CurrentMembers = | FormerMembers = | Allies = Typhon Group, Merovech Investment Group, S.H.I.E.L.D., Norman Osborn's H.A.M.M.E.R. and Dark Avengers; Hand, Serpent Society, Midas Investments, Zenzi. }} | Enemies = | Origin = Terrorist Organization formed from the Axis powers. | PlaceOfFormation = Unknown | PlaceOfDefunction = | Creators = Dick Ayers; Frank Giacoia; Jack Kirby; Stan Lee; Steve Ditko | First = | HistoryText = Origin Alien Legacy In a prehuman time, a cabal of cold-blooded alien reptiles arrived on Earth, planning to start a legacy of evil. They planted the seed that would later gave birth to future evil empires. Ancient Egypt End of the Second Dynasty In 2620 B.C., the Brood attacked Egypt and killed Pharaoh Khasekhemwy Khasekhemui, ending the Second Great Dynasty. Imhotep led a coalition of warriors, including En Sabah Nur and the Moon Knight, and annihilated the aliens. Imhotep's Shield remained in the West, leading to the formation of the Brotherhood of the Shield. His Spear went to East, where it resided. Third Dynasty For modern records, the earliest origins of Hydra date back to the Third Dynasty of Egypt. China Han Dynasty In 114 A.D., during the Han Dynasty, Zhang Heng was the keper of the Spear. He met with the pregnant Celestial "Madonna" and avoided the consumption of Earth or the Moon for nourishment of the infant Celestial by suggesting the use of the Sun as gestation place. Zhang Heng used the spear on some occasions, using to enforce the Brotherhood's goals and protect his country. Corruption Thanks to alien reptiles' evil seed, both part of the greater Brotherhood became corrupted: while the West, the Brotherhood of the Shield, turned inwards and devoured itself, the East flew apart, dissipating itself generations after generations. The Eastern Brotherhood of the Spear, now simply referred by its enemy, the Shield, as the Beast, spread out, ingraining itself into all facets of human society - science, magic, politics - like a multi-headed monster. "The three greatest ones of Asia rest, from minaret to monarchy flow the hidden knowledge, navigation and the last caliphate" -- Nostradamus' prediction At the height of the East, the Last Caliphate, the three brothers of Causality (the embodiment of branching time: what is, what has come before, what will be) were hidden away at the request of the Forever Man, Michelangelo. 18th century After the Renaissance, all references to the ancient organization of Hydra ceased to appear. World War II Strucker's Hydra Sometime before 1941, Nazi operative Baron Wolfgang von Strucker birthed the modern Hydra organization as his personal paramilitary force, secretly created without Hitler's knowledge. Their name came from the fearsome Hydra. In 1941 Strucker was contacted by the cabal of ninjas known as the Hand, which had just broken a long time agreement with the crime mastermind Romulus and wanted to form new alliances. At that time, the Hand was trying to capture young Russian killer Natalia Romanova to turn her into their Master Assassin; to show his loyalty to the Hand, Strucker approached and kidnapped Natalia, bringing her to Madripoor as a gift for the ninjas. However, Strucker did not know that Natalia, secretly an agent of Romulus, was given the mission to kill the Jonin of the Hand, and she was ready to accomplish her destiny during the Hand's ritual that would have elected her as the Master Assassin; however, Logan, another agent of Romulus who had trained and saved Natalia several times, popped up from shadow and killed the Jonin instead, avoiding to make the young Natalia a killer again. Captain America and Ivan Petrovich helped Logan fighting the Hand, while Strucker escaped in the battle's chaos. Later in 1941, Strucker directed a secret Hydra operation in Tunisia, using as a cover another Nazi operation on the same place. He was attacked by Captain America, his sidekick Bucky and Logan, but the Strucker killed by Bucky was just an impersonator; Logan found and nearly killed Strucker, but he was stopped from a call by Seraph, who ordered him to protect the Baron, with whom Romulus had made an agreement. Strucker was captured by the United States Army, freed by Logan and later rescued by his Nazi ally Baron Heinrich Zemo, who had arrived in Tunisia with support troopes. Japanese Hydra Sometime before 1943, it happened at least before August 1945, but as per Sgt Fury #29 and , those events took place before 1943}} the leader of Nazi's Thule Society, the Red Skull, after having seen how Hitler's Reich was falling in pieces, started creating a secret organization in Japan merging several underground Japanese societies, including the Hand, with fugitive members of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. This organization operated in the Pacific Ocean, directed by a Shinto Imperialist, while in Germany Strucker was leader of both Red Skull's Thule Society and of Hydra. After having failed several missions, Adolf Hitler ordered Baron von Strucker's death. He then contacted Red Skull, who helped him escaping from Germany to Japan, where he joined the Skull's organization, renamed it Hydra, and killed its Supreme Leader, seizing control of the organization and merging it with his own Hydra. As the Supreme Hydra, Strucker created the Hydra Base Tsunami, better known as the Hydra Island. After having seen the power of Strucker's newborn Hydra, the new Jonin of the Hand tried to unify the two organizations introducing the occult arts and the worship of the Beast inside Hydra. Strucker, who knew that occultism had previously driven Hitler near to madness, fought the Jonin, winning the battle that would keep separated Hydra and the Hand for some time. Hydra soon came in to conflict with Captain Simon Savage and the Leatherneck Raiders. The crew was captured, but they were able to fight their way to the base just in time to rescue their men from a firing squad, but they were all able to escape, with Hydra Island partially destroyed. "From the East the Spear falls to the Beast, It shall call to the blood of the Gorgon, And for a time it will fall silent, Then it shall burn brilliant, betrayal and vengeance! -- Nostradamus' prediction At some point, the Nazi Germany acquired the Spear of Imhotep, possibly from or with the help of the Japan Emperor, Hirohito. The Spear was at some point acquired by Baron von Strucker. Strucker later decided to regain Hitler's favor, drugging Fury after having him captured in Africa, and offering Hitler the drug's formula. However, Fury was freed by the Howling Commandos. Strucker then returned in Germany, seemingly operating as a loyal Nazi but secretly leading Hydra behind the scenes. Hydra later obtained the Japanese submarine known as the Dragon of Death and used it as its new base of operations; Hydra later tried to build an atomic bomb by using knowledges from the future obtained by Strucker in a time-travel with Doctor Doom's Time Machine, but they were defeated by the Invaders. Under Strucker's leadership, the Thule Society and Hydra started merging, quickly becoming the one and the same. 's recap page, Thule Society has also been considered to be one of the many aliases of Hydra.}} After World War II During the Cold War, Hydra kept on its activities, the Red Army Faction/Baader-Meinhof Gang, the German People's Union, Der Republikaners and Neo-Nazis being some of their new faces in Germany, pursuing the goal of obtaining eternal life through science. The German Freedom League who had previously opposed the Thule Society kept fighting Hydra, smuggling scientists under duress from their organizations. Hydra manipulated the rises of totalitarianism in China and North Korea to support their agenda. Baron von Strucker acquired several hordes of Nazi gold, used to fund Hydra activities. Satanist and fourth richest person in the world Elsbeth von Strucker married Baron Strucker and started funding Hydra in 1957, seemingly incorporating her own agenda about the Sickly Ones, entities having waited a chosen one for almost four billion years. Strucker then reorganized and began to diversify Hydra, repositioning the organization towards global domination. S.H.I.E.L.D. Foundation Some time before 1961, the United States Security Council decided to create S.H.I.E.L.D., a secret organization started by Tony Stark and directed by Rick Stoner whose primary focus was defeating Hydra forces. The Wheel of Pieta In 1961, Shield's Grandmaster Leonardo da Vinci organized several important people in spionage's world in a loose partnership known as the Great Wheel of Zodiac. Led by Da Vinci himself as Aries, the Wheel included Baron Strucker, the Nick and Jake Fury, Hand's Grandmaster Shoji Soma, Leviathan's founders Viktor Uvarov and Vasili Dassiev, Thomas Davidson, Timothy Dugan, John Garrett, Cornelius van Lunt and Spear's agent Daniel Whitehall. , where Captain America mentions the Great Wheel to be connected with Shield, Spear and Leviathan; however, Hydra and Hand have been not mentioned.}} The Great Wheel accomplished several missions for Aries, including the discover of The Brood's alien technology in Egypt, Zargos Mountains and France. In France, the Fury brothers and Thomas Davidson found the Brood's replicant technology, which originated the first two Life-Model Decoys, the ones of Jake Fury and Thomas Davidson. However, Uvarov and Dassiev started operating behind the scenes using the alien technology for Leviathan's own purposes, betraying the Great Wheel after having learned from Davidson how to activate Pieta's secret protocols. As a consequence, the Wheel later disbanded. "We are committed. If we lose one hand, two more will take his place. -- Grandmaster Shoji Soma After the breaking of the Great Wheel, Strucker and Soma's Hand allied to attack Leviathan, and Strucker used the Spear of Imhotep to stab Viktor Uvarov; the Spear's fate after the battle is unknown. In 1965, S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Stoner was assassinated by Hydra agents, and Nick Fury was selected by Tony Stark as the new director. By this time, Strucker had his scientist Arnim Zola building the Deltite Life-Model Decoy and the Gnobians, as parts of future Hydra plans; the Deltite was then placed inside S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier by Hydra undercover agent Jake Fury. .}} Hydra inside S.H.I.E.L.D. Soon after having become director, Fury recruited into S.H.I.E.L.D. former Great Wheel member Thomas Davidson to built the organization's new technological setup based on the old Leviathan's system, themselves based on original Pieta's protocols. Then, Fury sent the duplicate of Davidson created by Brood's technology in France as an undercover member in Hydra. This way, Strucker learned from "Davidson" how to have access into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s systems and used the protocols to secretly observe the organization's activities; Strucker also had "Davidson" building the entire Hydra's technology spying system, them also based on Pieta's protocols. This way, the real Davidson easily had access to Hydra systems, and Fury used them to observe Hydra while Hydra was observing S.H.I.E.L.D. The Rise of Hydra Strucker and Baroness Adelicia von Krupp once captured the C.I.A.'s Agent Ten, Logan, but he was rescued by agents Richard Parker and Mary Parker. Hydra then clashed with Fury's S.H.I.E.L.D. several times. Since Strucker did not want to expose himself, he found THEM, a secret council that oversaw Hydra and its subsidiaries, A.I.M. and Secret Empire, and became known as the Grand Imperator. THEM then selected a puppet leader for Hydra, Imperial Industries businessman Arnold Brown, who called himself the Imperial Hydra. Brown was later killed by an Hydra agent who refused to believe he was the organization's leader after having seen him unmasked. During this time, Strucker and Dr. Nikolaus Geist secretly carried over the Infinitas Agenda, a program started during World War II by Strucker's Thule Society. After Brown's death, Hydra's subsidiaries A.I.M. and Secret Empire became more active. Hydra resurfaced some time later, led by a new Supreme Hydra, Don Antonio Caballero. Caballero later went undercover in S.H.I.E.L.D. under the identity of Agent Bronson. It was eventually revealed that Don Caballero was Baron von Strucker in deguise. Strucker finally died at the hands of Fury and several deceived Hydra agents. The three Hydra subsidiaries, THEM, A.I.M. and the Secret Empire gained independence following Strucker's apparent death. A Broken Hydra After Strucker's death, Count Otto Vermis became the new Supreme Hydra. In 1966, he directed an Hydra operation to break Fort Knox, but he was stopped by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Nick Fury and Tim Dugan; Dugan was shot in the mission, where he apparently died. Fury kept Dugan's body in suspended animation for years, preserving his last glimmer of life and broadcasting his consciousness in several LMDs who took Dugan's place in S.H.I.E.L.D. Vermis later moved in Europe, where his Hydra faction was responsable for the creation of the agent later known as Spider-Woman. Several Hydra's sections had been later active in the United States. One of them, controlled by Madame Hydra, was opposed by Captain America. Apparently, Baron Strucker returned from the grave, under the new identity of the Hood; he hired the Batroc's Brigade and built a robot Bucky in order to take his revenge against Captain America for the events of World War II; Strucker was captured by S.H.I.E.L.D. and later revealed to be a robot created by Machinesmith. The Hulk then fought an incarnation of Hydra led by an unidentified Supreme Hydra twice, one time in California and later in New Mexico; Captain America then faced an incarnation of Hydra led by Richard Fisk and Red Skull in Las Vegas, Nevada, while New York's Hydra asked crime boss Silvermane to become their Supreme Hydra; this incarnation was fought by Daredevil. A first LMD impersonating Baron Strucker was later defeated by Captain America and the Howling Commandos, while a second LMD was faced by the X-Men and Alpha Flight. - }} Finally, a Supreme Hydra led his cell in Canada to attack The Leader's bunker, but he died in the mission. Nick Fury vs. S.H.I.E.L.D. When S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were in New Mexico to found the Helicarrier's power cube, .}} a group of Hydra agents arrived to obtain it for theirselves. This Hydra cell operated in Japan, controlled by a new Madame Hydra. It was eventually revealed that the shadowy S.H.I.E.L.D. Executive Board was controlling Hydra, A.I.M. and Roxxon Corporation behind the scenes, with the Board's General Director posing as the Supreme Hydra. Hydra was compleatly defeated by an assault squad led by Nick Fury in Japan, and Madame Hydra was kept by Fury as a prisoner and later deported at Tyler Institute for the Criminal Insane. The S.H.I.E.L.D.'s General Director was then revealed to be a Life-Model Decoy built several years before by Hydra scientist Arnim Zola and placed inside S.H.I.E.L.D. Space Station by a rogue LMD of Jake Fury who allied himself with Hydra, and he was ultimately killed by Fury. S.H.I.E.L.D. was then shutted down by the United Nations, and Fury went undercover. Meanwhile, a Life-Model Decoy of Strucker and Dr. Geist continued Hydra's Infinitas Agenda, developing an army of Super-Soldiers which was unleashed against the Captain and his fellow Avengers. Time later, the U.N. decided to reform S.H.I.E.L.D., now as a smaller organization under Fury's direct control; Fury then brought to Tony Stark the remains of the Deltite, inside of the which he discovered an hologram of Baron Strucker who revealed that all the Deltite affair was a distraction to keep Fury out of the scenes while Hydra was organising his possible future resurrection. Madame Hydra and the Yellow Claw Later Mai-Pan was sent by the Yellow Claw to help Madame Hydra escaping the institute; Hydra was later reformed by Plan Chu and Madame Hydra, who started possessing S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Alexander Pierce to make him her lover. Madame Hydra died in a battle against S.H.I.E.L.D., Pierce was freed from her control and the true Hydra's new leader revealed himself to the Yellow Claw as Werner von Strucker, Baron Strucker's son. Strucker's Return After having seen Hydra's decline with Werner von Strucker's leadership, the Red Skull sent three agents to resurrect the real Baron Wolfgang von Strucker using his Black Spore Virus in the former Hydra Island. Successfully resurrected, Strucker immediatly started to reorganize Hydra by killing the leaders of the several splinter cells and uniting them to create a brand new Hydra. Later, Strucker and his newly recruited lieutenants assaulted New York City and destroyed S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters in Manhattan, killing 1500 agents in the act. Hydra lieutenants later ran an operation at Arctic Circle, but they were stopped by Fury's agents. Hydra successfully placed three secret agents, dubbed the Super Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. into S.H.I.E.L.D., helped by a brainwashed G.W. Bridge. They were assigned to Nick Fury, who had to train them. They were unmasked as Hydra agents by Ivory, who was then killed. While investigating in the ruins of the destroyed S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters, Nick Fury discovered that the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents apparently killed and replaced by the LMDs during the Deltite Affair had not been killed, but kept in stasis in the underground sector of the HQ. Those agents had been brainwashed into believing themselves to be Hydra agents; Jasper Sitwell, Jimmy Woo and Sidney Levine, impersonating the Executive Board, commanded Clay Quartermain to kill Nick Fury, but they were finally freed from Hydra's psychic control. During the final showdown between Strucker's Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D., Fury and his agents were brought to Hydrabase in Iceland. Fury and his allies defeated Hydra, Strucker escaped and agent Kate Neville was killed in the mission. Later, a Skrull named Sn'Tlo took control of the New York's Hydra branch, calling himself the Sensational Hydra; he captured Captain America and impersonated him during the time Rogers was considered to be the perfect American citizen model, trying to destroy his reputation by faking a Skrull invasion. However, the real Captain escaped and revealed to the world the imposter's real identity. Hydra's Civil War Despite his reorganization of the group, various independent Hydra factions continued to operate and a Hydra Civil War would later result. While Baron Helmut Zemo had Strucker placed in stasis for his own ends, Gorgon and Strucker's wife Elsbeth mystically created a clone of Strucker who they set up to fail, allowing for a public execution of him. At some point, legendary Hydra agent Kraken went (on his own) to Kobe, Japan, and gave the Godkiller blade to Tomi Shishido, aka the Gorgon, to help him achieve his destiny. Gorgon then went to the Hand and committed suicide (in order to be resurrected). Gorgon became the High Priest of the Hand, their leader, and allied the Hand and the Brotherhood splinter group the Dawn of the White Light (that he formerly led as well) with Hydra. Elsbeth von Strucker soon considered Gorgon as being the one awaited by the Sickly Ones. As Gorgon left to follow their goals in leading Hydra, "ushering in the end with infinite resources", the sickly masters of the Hand erected a resurrected "Elektra" as a queen to rule from the East. Elektra, along with Wolverine, soon killed the masters and decimated the Hand's ranks. When Edgar Lascombe took over as leader and under his command, Hydra planned an all out attack on the United States by smuggling missiles into New York for use in a planned bio-weapon assault on the Ogallala Aquifer. Lascombe know the reason why Hydra had failed so many times, was the lack of superpowers, so they formed a distraction using clones of the Avengers (Tactical Force instead of Iron Man, Militant as Captain America, Hammer as Thor and Bowman as Hawkeye, who was dead at the time) but were foiled when Spider-Man joined the Avengers' new line-up. Wheels Within Wheels In the closing days of the foiled Skrull invasion, Strucker destroyed his undersea base Ichor, which was crawling with Skrull infiltrators. He then changed his plans from subverting the world to conquering it. Fury then found out that Hydra was controlling S.H.I.E.L.D. since its foundation. He gathered allies around America to battle the overwhelming threat of Hydra. This included various Caterpillar teams and the Howling Commandos PMC. Strucker learned about this and in turn gathered his new ruling council of Hydra: Viper, Kraken, the Hive, and Madame Hydra. To complete this council, they had the Hand resurrect Gorgon. This new direction began by stealing technology from secret S.H.I.E.L.D. facilities around the US, as well as kidnapping psi-agents from the cryo-storage facility known as "Red Worm". Fury's Secret Warriors attempted to foil Hydra but failed, unprepared for the resurrected Gorgon. Strucker made an alliance with Norman Osborn, hoping for Osborn to kill Fury. However, he proved unsuccessful. Madame Hydra and Viper negotiated with the Clan Yashida to gain possession of the Box, a mysterious artifact. Leviathan forces assaulted Hydra, kidnapping Viper. Madame Hydra brought them the Box, passing it off to Hydra as a negotiation to rescue their companion. In truth, she had been working for Leviathan the entire time. Using the Heart contained within the Box, Magadan revived countless Leviathan agents from Overwinter cryostatis, including Orion, their leader. This led to an all-out war between Leviathan and Hydra. A discussion between the groups dissolved merely into fighting. However, Strucker was able to get a mole in the Secret Warriors: Hellfire. An assault on a Hydra base in China by the HC PMC ended disastrously for Fury's side. Fury's Secret Warriors were able to destroy Hydra's main base at Gehenna, with Phobos and Hellfire dying in the process. Kraken turned on Baron Strucker, taking him captive. After Fury's son died fighting Hydra, Nick surrendered to them. Kraken put him in a room with Strucker. He then revealed his true identity: Jake Fury. The Fury brothers then revealed the truth to Strucker. During the era of the Great Wheel, they had convinced a paranoid Life-Model Decoy of Thomas Davidson to subvert Strucker's organization. Strucker had been working for Fury the whole time. Fury then killed Strucker with a shot to the head. Hail H.A.M.M.E.R. Now with Madame Hydra and the Gorgon as their sole leaders, Hydra formed an alliance with Norman Osborn and his H.A.M.M.E.R. , and Gorgon joined Osborn's Avengers team as Wolverine. After Osborn failed to destroy the Avengers, Madame Hydra uses the remains of H.A.M.M.E.R. to reinforce her Hydra. The "New" Hydra A "new" Hydra was created by Hydra Queen along Baron Zemo, soldiers who where trapped in Land of Nowhere, soldiers form the "old" Hydra and new members, under the concept that the "old" Hydra failed at their commitment. Captain America attacked Hydra's base and defeated the Hydra Queen and Codename: Bravo, putting both of them in coma at S.H.I.E.L.D. hospital. Madame Hydra then resume leadership of Hydra once again. At some point, Baron Zemo regained leadership of Hydra. Under Zemo, Hydra managed another massive infiltration, somehow also managing to infiltrate superhero teams. They also started to recruit new Inhumans after the Terrigen Mist cloud transformed humans with Inhuman ancestors. One of their recruits, a boy called Lucas, possessed a toxin in his blood that could sterilize human beings. Hydra immediately created an antidote and passed it to all it's members, then started systematically pumping Luca's blood to spread it across the world, thus effectively taking over the world within the next generation. Once they had enough blood, Zemo recruited a group of supervillians to release portions of Lucas' blood in various parts of the world in a way that it will hit major population points. But they were opposed by Sam Wilson, the new Captain America after Rogers was depowered, and Rogers' son Nomad. Wilson managed to stop all the villains from releasing the toxin, while both Nomad and Zemo apparently died after the latter set his base to self destruct. In reality, Zemo survived and was secretly placed by S.H.I.E.L.D. in their reality-altering prison known as Pleasant Hill. Madame Hydra was also captured during the ordeal, leaving Hydra without a leader. Some time later, Wilson helped a hacktivist known as the Whisperer evade S.H.I.E.L.D. custody after leaking several confidential files. The Whisperer repaid Wilson with intel on Hydra, extracted directly from them. In the following six months, Captain America and S.H.I.E.L.D. used the data to cripple the organization and leave it virtually non-existent. Gorgon, Hydra's remaining figurehead, began a plot to wipe out Earth's superheroes in order to gain the credibility needed to re-unify the remnants of Hydra. He was eventually stopped and captured by S.H.I.E.L.D. and a team of heroes. Also, various independent Hydra cells have been shown to remain active despite the organization's lack of central leadership. They presumably operate independently from one another. War for Hydra Later, the Red Skull reconstituted a new Hydra from the ground up, attracting various Neo-Nazi, white supremacist and fascist groups to his new cause, to change the world to the Skull's image. The Skull's Hydra returned back to operating under nazism, unlike the previous iterations of the modern Hydra. This new Hydra also resorted to more direct methods than in the past, recruiting political extremists, using guerilla tactics and carrying out terrorist attacks against civilians in America and Western Europe. To carry out his goals, Skull convinced the sentient Cosmic Cube Kobik to turn his enemy Steve Rogers into a Hydra agent. To this end, Kobik replaced the real Captain America with a twisted version of himself from a version of history Kobik herself manufactured, one in which Rogers was indoctrinated into Hydra since he was young. While he swore loyalty toward Skull, Rogers repudiated Skull's vision of Hydra and set out to kill him. Rogers eventually got his chance to kill the Red Skull when the he was finally captured by the Avengers Unity Division, and Beast surgically removed Charles Xavier's brain from his. Meanwhile, Elisa Sinclair reappeared as Madame Hydra after Steve's memories were altered by Kobik. She came to Tomi Shishido, offering him to restore his empire, the Spear in the East, by joining the new Hydra High Council, along with Zola, Faustus, the new Kraken, Hive, Viper and Captain America. After escaping from S.H.I.E.L.D. custody, a weakened Red Skull went to his private estate in Germany to rest. That was when Rogers made his move. He beat the Skull to a pulp before hurling him through a window, sending the Skull to his death. With the Skull out of the way, Rogers took his place as the head of Hydra. Commanding S.H.I.E.L.D., Captain America, helped by Elisa, the High Council, and infiltrators in both S.H.I.E.L.D. and A.I.M., was able to take overtake the agency and the U.S.A., while recalling Hydra of its past, rejecting both the Red Skull's influence and the Wheel of Pieta, intending to rule it instead. Secret Empire After taking control of Hydra, Rogers spent months of planning that would allow Hydra to take over the United States. He took possession of Chitauri queen eggs that causes a wave of trillions of Chitauri to launch an invasion of Earth. Rogers' ally Baron Zemo assembled a team of villains to launch an attack on Manhattan. Both incidents lured out many superheroes to fight off the threats. Rogers then activated the Planetary Defense Shield to halt the Chitauri invasion and to strand the superheroes fighting them while Zemo and Blackout stranded the heroes in Manhattan as well as much of the island itself behind a dome of Darkforce. All of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s assets were also taken over by Hydra with the help of Doctor Faustus' mind-controlling technique. Due to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Act, in light of the two emergencies, Rogers had been legally appointed as interim executive of the government, and political leaders were subsequently placed in "protective custody" by Hydra. Over the following months, Hydra consolidated its hold over the United States, twisting the narrative in Hydra's favor via censorship and media manipulation, and encouraging the people's receptiveness with mind-altering substances in water supplies. Mutant resistance was avoided by granting them a sovereign state in the form of New Tian while Inhumans were prosecuted and imprisoned in camps. Hydra's reign came to an end when, following countless trials and tribulations, a group of rebel superheroes known as the Underground launched one final attack against Hydra's main congregation in Washington, D.C.. Hydra's main players and troops were taken down by the heroes, with Sharon Carter shutting down their entire float of airships, causing them to crash into the ground. The fascist Steve Rogers was stopped when the real Captain America was returned by Kobik. Following several weeks of adjustments, the United States managed to return to normalcy. Assets and Offshoots Throughout its long history Hydra has created several subsidiaries and front companies, a few of which have splintered off into independent organizations that follow their own agendas. * THEM - THEM was the central committee Baron von Strucker set up to direct operations of two of Hydra's subsidiaries: Advanced Idea Mechanics and the Secret Empire. Perhaps THEM's most notable achievement was reviving the Red Skull from suspended animation. *** Advanced Idea Mechanics - A.I.M. started as Hydra's science arm, outfitting their parent organization with advanced weaponry. A.I.M. is responsible for the development of the Cosmic Cube, and the creation of M.O.D.O.K. *** Secret Empire - Started by a scientist that felt like an anonymous nobody, the Secret Empire was originally used by Hydra as a means of distraction. During their attempt at conquering the United States it was revealed that their leader, Number One was actually a high ranking member of the U.S. Government. * Typhon Group - One of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, the Typhon Group is both a well-known provider of vaccines to third world countries and, quietly, the global leader in the creation of chemical weapons. * Echidna Capital Management - Echidna Capital Management is a venture capital firm committed to funding (and through funding gaining a controlling stake in) businesses on the cutting edge of several key areas such as genetic engineering, new media, nanotechnology, next-generation military systems, and aerospace engineering & manufacturing. * Merovech Investment Group - The Merovech Investment Group was founded and funded by Baron Wolfgang von Strucker. It was used as a cover to Hydra's activities in New York and to secretly fund Abe Jenkins' new Thunderbolts team. Moments in Hydra history * Hydra agents attacked the wedding of Reed Richards and Sue Storm. * The Fixer working with Hydra to kidnap the amnesiac Namor. * Clashing with Interpol agents Cassidy and Patrick Lipton. * Clashing with Mystique. * A young Remy LeBeau destroying a Hydra ship. * Silver Fox targeting Logan. * Hydra administering Project: New Genesis. * Ivan Trefkov, the murderer of Ernst Sablinova formed an alliance with Hydra at some point. | Equipment = Mechagorgon | Transportation = * Hydra Terror-Carrier * Hydra Flying Island ("New" Hydra) * Hydra Shuttle * Pride of Lerna | Weapons = | Notes = * Zhang Heng has a blurry status: He is stated to be part of no group, but was later stated to continue the work of the Brotherhood (in the greater meaning). * The Shield in the West, the Spear in the East was seemingly one motto of the Brotherhood of the Spear, used by Zhang Heng, and Kraken, as well as the S.P.E.A.R.. ** The Gorgon was named by Madame Hydra the Spear in the East. | Trivia = * Jake Fury, under the guise of Kraken, stated to his "fellow" Hydra leaders that they were the Spear, while their opponents, led by Nick Fury, were the Shield, and that it had been that way "for ages", "from the very beginning", hinting that Hydra considered itself as the Brotherhood of the Spear. * Early Spear carrier Zhang Heng and S.P.E.A.R. director Director Zheng have similar names. * As pointed out at marvunapp.com the Green Terror (3Xs_Foe)'s men's uniformsGreen Terror (3X's foe) - Marvunapp.com resemble Hydra uniforms minus the yellow H (they could be members of the unnamed Hydra in Hydra's origin). | Links = }} References Category:Organizations Category:Terrorist Organizations Category:Criminal Organizations Category:German Organizations Category:Egyptian Organizations Category:Hydra